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Emily Haines announced the arrival of Metric's fifth studio album Synthetica with a letter to fans that deliberately spelled out the record's lyrical themes. "Synthetica is about staying home and wanting to crawl out of your skin from the lack of external stimulation," she wrote. "It's about what is real versus what is artificial." This binary is common in contemporary art, to the point that it can seem a little trite, but Haines is too clever to settle into a simplistic "technology is bad" argument. Instead, she spends much of Synthetica pondering the way the human mind is transformed by artificial versions of natural experiences and wondering how to feel fully alive and present in a time of constant distraction.

Haines shares some of her themes with fellow Canadian artist Grimes, but the difference in their style and approach highlights a generation gap between the women. Grimes' Visions is typically described as "post-internet," a term that doesn't quite address Claire Boucher's lyrics as much as her aesthetic, which comes across as the product of a mind that has been immersed in the web since childhood. Her multi-tracked vocals cross and tangle like thoughts that are going in different directions and only take shape in aggregate, with strong emotions scattering rather than spiking at moments of catharsis. Synthetica, on the other hand, comes from the perspective of a singer who can vividly recall her life before laptops and smart phones, and has some frame of reference for how these things have changed the substance of her mind. The music forces itself into rigid shapes; the lyrics are boldly declarative. While Grimes evokes a fragmented, freeform mental state, Haines and her bandmates are constantly seeking definition. Their record is rebellious, vigilant, and a bit uptight.

Metric's music has always been about as precise as their name would imply. Guitarist and producer Jimmy Shaw favors guitar and keyboard hooks that snap into tight, rhythmic grids and tones that add vibrant color while staying within the proverbial lines. The approach has yielded mixed results-- their best material ends up seeming glossy and stylish, while the so-so tunes come out sounding overworked or bland. This is still the case on Synthetica, though the material is more consistently strong this time around. "Youth Without Youth" makes the most of their mechanical tightness by emulating the schaffel stomp of Goldfrapp and Gary Glitter, while "The Void" and the excellent ballad "Clone" successfully contrast cold tones and rhythmic stiffness with particularly vulnerable vocal performances by Haines. "Breathing Underwater" and "Speed the Collapse" may border on generic, but the group steps out of its comfort zone on the opener "Artificial Nocturne", which approaches the motorik bliss of Stereolab songs like "Jenny Ondioline" but frustratingly cuts out before they can fully crest out on the groove.

Haines is a vocalist with limited range, but she's good at conveying character and nuance in her phrasing even when working within her default position of earnest defiance. She switches up her style a bit here and there on Synthetica, putting on a faux-girlish tone on "Lost Kitten", and bringing out a seldom utilized sweetness to balance out the sourness of duet partner Lou Reed on "The Wanderlust". (Yes, somehow Lou Reed is on this record.) Her position is always clear on a lyrical level, but her voice lends a touch of depth and ambiguity to the music, which opens up her "artificial vs. natural" thesis to debate. Synthetica is something of a polemic, but Haines' moments of ambivalence are what make the record compelling. At their best, Metric resist making statements about how technology is changing our minds and culture, and simply ask thoughtful questions about it with the awareness that there are no easy answers.